S01.E02: Penguin One, Us Zero

[Constantinople]

With regard to Nora being in a fog and knocking the coffee on the floor -- its been THREE YEARS! Seriously I cannot buy people still being in this kind of state three years after. I was watching a story on the local news last night about a hit and run that happened 2 years ago. That family doesn't know what happened. Their loved one is gone, they don't know why... they will probably never know... they are not part of a cult... they are moving on with their lives.

 

I don't know that Nora was in a fog.  As the person who lost more family members than anyone else, she has a certain status in the community.  Perhaps she's just taking advantage of her status in the town to have a mild power trip / drama queen moment.  Initially the coffee clerk was WTF, but once he recognized Nora, he was cool with it.

 

As for people getting on with their lives, not all people get on with their lives after a tragedy occurs.  Sometimes marriages break-up, sometimes people start drinking too much, sometimes people end up losing their jobs.  Sometimes none of that happens but people spend all of their spare time trying to figure out what happened.

 

For that matter, we don't even know the family in the newscast you mentioned have gone on with their lives (though I'm not sure what that means).  If they participated with the newcast, presumably they're still looking for answers.  If they didn't participate, it may not be that they're getting on with their lives.  It may be it's still too painful for them to discuss or they think it's unlikely the story will turn up any useful new information.

 

Four months ago Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, along with 239 people, disappeared off of the face of the Earth.  It was national and international news for weeks on end even though the vast majority of viewers didn't know anyone aboard the plane.  Eventually, it stopped being a daily story, but we could tell ourselves the plane had crashed somewhere, we just didn't know where.  Perhaps we'd never uncover enough evidence to know where it crashed, but there was a rational explanation for what happened.  We just didn't know what it was in the absence of sufficient evidence.

 

That's not going to fly, as it were, when 150 million people vanished with no scientific explanation or possible explanation.  People will freak.  They may not be rioting in the streets 3 years after th event -- though now that I think about it, the Cigarette Cult was attacked during the commemoration ceremony -- but large numbers of people aren't going to just shrug their shoulders and ignore it as if nothing happened.

 

In terms of sheer inexplicability -- is that a word -- I think the disappearance is most comparable to the Black Death of the 14th century.  As a percentage, the Black Death killed far more people than those who disappeared in the show, but it's similar in that the Leftovers in each case don't have much explanation except whatever explanation people make up for themselves:  the will of God, the Jews did it, etc.  Many people joined what were, in effect, cults or abandoned or questioned conventional religious and social practices.  So I'm not at all surprised that some people in the series have joined cults, sought answers from "charismatic" leaders, etc.

[ganesh]

Sometimes none of that happens but people spend all of their spare time trying to figure out what happened.

 

Except apparently on this show. I find this mystifying. To be fair though, I'm pleased that there seems to be a government agency collecting data and I'm more interesting in following Nora around to see what she's learned. Maybe in fact she does know something, and it's not good. The Ninth Doctor does seem to be researching into the type of people who vanished too. 

 

I don't expect the chief of police to spend time figuring out what happened, since he has other things to do. But I think it's sloppy that he isn't liaising with other chiefs to compare notes and trends. Like this dog issue shouldn't have been a surprise to him unless this is the only town at all in the world where it's happened. 

 

They may not be rioting in the streets 3 years after th event -- though now that I think about it, the Cigarette Cult was attacked during the commemoration ceremony -- but large numbers of people aren't going to just shrug their shoulders and ignore it as if nothing happened.

 

They shouldn't have been attacked. But they did kind of instigate, which it seems that the chief knew this was going to happen. I suppose all the barricades, etc., that police use for crowd control vanished on the 14th too. 

 

This show is sloppy. There's not much of a sense of organization. The episodes really weren't about anything. 

[GaT]

Except apparently on this show. I find this mystifying. To be fair though, I'm pleased that there seems to be a government agency collecting data and I'm more interesting in following Nora around to see what she's learned. Maybe in fact she does know something, and it's not good. The Ninth Doctor does seem to be researching into the type of people who vanished too. 

 

I don't expect the chief of police to spend time figuring out what happened, since he has other things to do. But I think it's sloppy that he isn't liaising with other chiefs to compare notes and trends. Like this dog issue shouldn't have been a surprise to him unless this is the only town at all in the world where it's happened. 

 

They shouldn't have been attacked. But they did kind of instigate, which it seems that the chief knew this was going to happen. I suppose all the barricades, etc., that police use for crowd control vanished on the 14th too. 

 

This show is sloppy. There's not much of a sense of organization. The episodes really weren't about anything. 

This show is very sloppy, we still don't know why they were attacked, or why they were there with the signs, or why people hate them. How long are we going to have to wait for this information? It seems pretty basic info to me.

[ganesh]

They were attacked seemingly because they're annoying and they stalk people. That's all I got from it. And not for nothing, if these people were stalking Liv Tyler, can't she just get a restraining order?

 

In the meeting with the mayor in E1, the chief indicated that there could be violence at the parade. In E2, we're shown that he's regularly investigating the cult. So he must know something. There's even a scene with Liv in the pledge house with him. This could have been a natural place for some exposition, or even in the scene with the fiance, or even in the scene with the therapist. Sure, don't dump exposition, but there's places where a show naturally doles out some information to keep the plot going. 

 

Example- Chief: Mayor, I think the parade is a mistake because the GRs and their self-flagellation bullshit are going to goad the town into beating on them. This happened in Other Town.

 

Very simple in two lines of dialogue. The GRs have survivor's guilt and are punishing themselves in extreme ways. It's happening in other places too. 

 

This is a tired and boring example of "manufactured drama." Being cryptic for the sake of being cryptic. Or having your characters not ask questions in conversations where this would normally happen. Or when problems can be solved simply. So either TPTB don't know anything about the cult or are just writing in a shitty way.

Edited July 11, 2014 by ganesh

[GaT]

 

This is a tired and boring example of "manufactured drama." Being cryptic for the sake of being cryptic. Or having your characters not ask questions in conversations where this would normally happen. Or when problems can be solved simply. So either TPTB don't know anything about the cult or are just writing in a shitty way.

Exactly, another case of "Lostitis"

[ganesh]

That's what I was thinking. I'm trying not to compare to Lost because it's not fair to this show, and it should be allowed to stand or fall on its own merits/failures. However, it's hard not to see the parallels. There are other shows I'm currently watching where the world-building is severely lacking or where the world building was done just fine. So it's not like Lost owns these short comings. 

 

Lost was a long time ago. There's a set of common and obvious things that need to be done to ground tv shows with weird concepts. All you have to do is watch tv. Or hire a consultant to watch tv. 

Edited July 11, 2014 by ganesh

[Blakeston]

I felt like Nora was really cagey and I have my doubts that the vanishing benefit, or whatever she called it, is even really a thing.

 

I think it's a real thing - when she called the couple she ended up interviewing, they seemed to know what the benefit was.

 

If she's faking - and I won't be surprised if she is - my guess is that she's pretending to work for a real government program.

[izabella]

I'm intrigued enough to keep watching.  The show has its problems, but I'll give it a chance to tell the story a bit more and see what the focus is.

 

I think the thing that bugs me the most is the Chief's dreams being presented as though they are real, but then, aha, they're just dreams.  It makes it hard to tell, for example, if this time he's seeing the stag it's real or a hallucination or a dream.  I guess that's the point, but I hate that.  If this isn't a supernatural show, please dispense with that plot contrivance!

[BooBear]

Chief's dreams being presented as though they are real, but then, aha, they're just dreams.  It makes it hard to tell, for example, if this time he's seeing the stag it's real or a hallucination or a dream.  I guess that's the point, but I hate that.  If this isn't a supernatural show, please dispense with that plot contrivance!

 

I find this the last nail in an untalented set of writers. Hacks always go for weird dreams to try and tell a story. What is more annoying is that it is only the Chief who is having the strange dreams... which says they are not trying to say that there is some bigger event sill going on disturbing others... one reason why the vanishing is still *with* everyone so much.

 

Also, anyone else find the opening credits insanely uncreative? From a network with the Sopranos, 6 Feet Under, and True Blood... we get that? Which btw was even more of a fail because it was a painting of the rapture which this is not supposed to be?

[ganesh]

I said the same thing. For a show that doesn't want to talk about what the event is, the opening credits are a pretty clear statement. 

 

 

Hacks always go for weird dreams to try and tell a story.

They also go for cryptic dialogue too. 

[BigBlueMastiff]

Agree with those who are bored by this show. I don't mind slow or slowly developed shows, but this is just boring and nonsensical. I hate most of the female characters, especially the teens, Liv Tyler, and Judge Amy. As others have said, the antics of both cults are both annoying and boring. I don't get anyone's motivations and at this point I don't care. I wonder how the ratings are, because there is a lot of competition on Sunday night even with dvr. I'm done, moving on to The Strain.

[BooBear]

 because there is a lot of competition on Sunday night even with dvr. I'm done, moving on to The Strain.

 

Yes I think now that there is something else to watch I will watch that. It isn't as if I can't find reruns of this show on literally 8 times per day on one of the HBO stations. 

[xls]

I tried to get into it but its a stupid fking show with an even more stupid cult.

[Catherinewriter]

How deep does she have to get into the tree in order to kill it? God, that makes me furious.

 

Where is Christopher Eccleston?

[Jamoche]

 Were the people just too shell-shocked to take in the dogs when they were abandoned? There had to be some dog lovers who would have at least fostered some of them.

 

Hell, www.aftertherapturepetcare.com is already a thing, and that's just the first google hit!

The explanation we were given was that the dogs who actually witnessed someone disappearing became completely feral, and there was no way they'd ever go back to the way they were.

Uh-huh. This is not how dogs behave. This is not even how rescued feral dogs behave. Therefore, this is a thing that ought to be studied in a rational universe that's had something majorly irrational happen to it.

 

But those dogs don't look like they've been running wild for three years; they're well-fed and still have new-looking collars. Someone should've done a google image search for "stray dog".

[Wax Lion]

There's a part of me that wonders if there's someone at the GR cult collecting the trash to eavesdrop on conversations. Once you learn to recognize handwriting, you can try to piece together conversations, unless someone talks through a notebook the keep to themselves.

[ganesh]

That's a great point. It seems like something the FBI would be on because it would take a lot of man-hours to put all that together. But there's handwriting experts irl, so putting together some type of task force somewhere isn't crazy.

 

I can't imagine there isn't some coordinated effort to investigate the GR.

[phillychick33]

I don't understand the cult, I don't get the smoking and the silence and the all-white.  I don't get Liv Tyler's character - - why she would want to join the cult and chop down a big tree when there are plenty of other smaller trees around - - and I just don't care.  I don't get why that Asian girl is so special.  I don't get why it seemed so important that the bagels were stuck in the toaster. 

 

 

I really feel i need to rewatch the first 4 eps again but what i got from Liv chopping at the tree.. She's made the decision to leave her fiancee and 'old' life behind, giving up all her possessions, etc.. She's gaining strength, and letting her (anger? confusion? sadness?) go with every chop of that tree.  If she finally gets it down, she'll light her first ciggie :D 

 

Garvey with the bagel?  He's a stubborn SOB and simply wouldn't accept the bagel "disappeared" -- he had to prove there was a reasonable explanation for where it went.  He needed to actually see for himself.  Hopefully he'll apply these amazing detective skills (hehe) to discovering how/why Oct 14th happened and maybe figure out how to fix his messed up life.  I'd give up on the wife.  Nine-tenths of the way to space cadet, that one is..

 

The Asian girl.. I'm with you on that one!  "special"?  I don't see it.  Nor the child she's carrying.  "Holy Wayne" is a crackpot in serious need of meds.  But I do love his voice! lol 

 

I like Justin Thereaux but I'm not sure he's enough to make me stick with this thing.

 

 

Yes he's pretty fun to watch! :) Just can't remember where I know him from.. Wiki search fielded nothing.  Though very reminiscent of the lead actor in FlashForward -- which this show reminds me a LOT of..... a major event occurring and then how everyone deals with its aftermath.... expectant of a possible repeat occurrence.. questioning their existence and whether their life has meaning, etc., etc.. Man I miss that show.

 

Edited July 27, 2014 by phillychick33

[PamelaMaeSnap]

On July 7, 2014 at 1:52 AM, ottoDbusdriver said:

The entire cast of Perfect Strangers were departed on Oct. 14 -- that's really odd.

Watch S2. Laugh-out-loud funny.